The City Council postponed a vote Wednesday on a proposal to help protect a West Dallas neighborhood. Now, let the dealing begin.

Looking to preserve their community of mostly modest, single-family homes, La Bajada property owners have petitioned the city to limit the height of residential structures there to 27 feet.

Wednesday’s council agenda included the creation of a neighborhood stabilization overlay to enforce the height restriction on residential properties inside Singleton Boulevard, Sylvan Avenue, Canada Drive and Gulden Lane near the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. The city plan commission supported the move last month.

But developers of the nearby Trinity Groves project want property they own removed from the overlay to allow for development there without the height limit. Overlay supporters have opposed the boundary change.

And Mayor Mike Rawlings stepped into the dispute on Tuesday, asking two leaders of the petition drive to consider compromising for the possible good of La Bajada.

“He encouraged us to listen to a proposal” from the Trinity Grove developers, West Dallas Investments, said Eva Elvove, who hosted the meeting at her home. “We decided we will listen and take it to the community.”

Elvove said she was told that West Dallas Investments – led by partners Stuart Fitts, Larry “Butch” McGregor and Phil Romano – will offer to help improve the neighborhood in exchange for residents’ support for removing their property from the overlay.

“Will it be housing, amenities, services? We don’t know,” she said. “Put your cards on the table. Let’s talk.

Work continues on their Trinity Groves, a budding 15-acre project along Singleton just south of La Bajada, being touted as a future restaurant, retail and entertainment destination.

In recent days West Dallas Investments representatives have talked with the city planning staff about rezoning some of their property, including two areas in the overlay near Toronto Street.

They have shown La Bajada residents maps and color pictures of potential changes to the two areas of now mostly aging homes and vacant lots. The vision: “boutique commercial/retail shops” and a mix of apartments, retail and a four-level “parking structure.”

A rezoning for such development, any development, could be sought even if the property remains in the overlay. But it would require those seeking the change to own the property or have the permission of all affected property owners – something West Dallas Investments now lacks.

Elvove said she and other overlay supporters might support a West Dallas Investments rezoning request if it’s good for the neighborhood.

“We’re not opposed to development. And we may be willing to work with this when it becomes concrete,” she said. “But these are just pictures. They may never do anything.

“We may be poor but we’re not stupid.”

The overlay request is scheduled to return to the council Sept. 12. The group could approve or reject the overlay or amend its boundaries.

In March 2011, the City Council unanimously adopted a development vision for an area of West Dallas, which calls in part for “preserving, conserving, enhancing the La Bajada neighborhood in its entirety.”

The document, called the West Dallas Urban Structure and Guidelines, also includes these words: “Do not support any commercial or higher density rezoning from existing single family zoned parcels within La Bajada.”